Description
For some San Franciscans, giving up space and privacy is a worthwhile trade for affordable rent. At Brownstone Shared Housing, residents take that tradeoff to the extreme, paying $700 per month for a bunk bed in a room with 30 other adults in the heart of downtown.
Brownstone is a sleeping pod company. Pods have been around San Francisco for over a decade, but they are having a moment as droves of tech workers flock to one of the world’s most expensive cities, chasing AI fortunes. They have been characterized as everything from dystopian and potentially illegal to an affordable housing solution — and they have proven popular among some young professionals, who say pods offer them an efficient, simple housing option.
Some housing experts are skeptical that sleeping pods can provide anything more than a short-term stopgap for a narrow group of residents navigating the housing crisis in San Francisco.